How To Root OnePlus One Smartphone

OnePlus One is a high-quality Android smartphone that is considered as a Flagship smartphone killer by many people. The device comes with a 5.5 inch LTPS LCD touchscreen display that is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad-core processor alongside a 3 GB RAM, and it runs on Android KitKat operating system. The 13 megapixel camera available in this device will let you take high-quality snapshots. With its lower price, this is one of the best Android smartphones available right now.

If you have bought this device and would like to get root privileges for install applications which only supports rooted devices or for removing the bloat ware in your device, well then you are in the right place. Here, I have given a step by step tutorial to root OnePlus One smartphone.

WARNING: Rooting your smartphone will void its warranty and you won’t be able to claim it. Also, rooting your device might get it bricked if you don’t follow the instructions carefully and if that occurs don’t held me responsible. Proceed at your OWN will.

Prerequisites:

1) The rooting procedure given below is a data-loss process, so it is important to take a full backup of personal data’s in your smartphone before rooting. Take backup with appropriate apps and save it in your computer. We will use this to recover data after finishing the rooting process.

2) Make sure that your device has at least 60% battery backup in it. If not, please charge your battery up to this mark and then start the rooting process.

3) Download OnePlus One USB driver from here and install it in your computer. By doing this, you will be able to connect your smartphone to the computer.

4) Next, you will have to install ADB and Fastboot in your computer. To do so, download full Android SDK zip package from here. Once downloaded, extract the zip package, save it’s content in a folder in your desktop and name it as “Android-SDK-windows” without quotes. Next, open the folder and click on SDK Manager.exe. Now install the following packages: Tools -> Android SDK Tools, Android SDK Platform-tools, and Extras -> Android Support Library, Google USB Driver.

Once done, go back to the Android-sdk-Windows folder and you will see a new folder by the name “platform-tools”. This will finish the ADB and fastboot installation. To check whether it is working properly, open command prompt in your computer and enter the following commands:

cd Desktop/android-sdk-windows/platform-tools
adb version

If it shows “Android Debug Bridge version x.x.xx“, then it is working properly. If it doesn’t, repeat this ADB and fastboot installation process again.

Once you have done these prerequisites, you can move forward to the main tutorial given below.

Tutorial To Root OnePlus One Smartphone:

Rooting your OnePlus One is a pretty easy task but before that you will need to unlock your device’s bootloader and install a custom recovery. Let’s find out how to do that and root your OnePlus One smartphone.

a) How To Unlock Bootloader Of OnePlus One Smartphone:

1) To get started, you will need to switch off your smartphone and boot into the fastboot mode. To do that, press and hold the volume up and power button simultaneously while your device is switched off until you see the fastboot text in your smartphone screen.

2) Once done, connect your device to the computer using the original USB data cable. Next, open a command window in your computer and enter the following commands:

cd Desktop/android-sdk-windows/platform-tools

fastboot devices

3) If you see your device model number in the command window after entering the above commands, you are ready to proceed to the next step. If you don’t see your smartphone model number, you will have to reinstall the USB drivers and try this process again.

4) Now, to unlock the bootloader enter the following command:

fastboot oem unlock

5) Once done, enter the following command to reboot your device:

fastboot reboot

6) That’s it. Now you have successfully unlocked the bootloader of your smartphone. Upon rebooting, you will have to enable USB debugging mode by following this guide. Also, you will have to disable CM recovery protection by following the path: Settings > Developer Options -> Update recovery with system updates (disable this option).

Now, you can close the command prompt and disconnect your smartphone from the computer. Next, you will have to install a custom recovery in your OnePlus One smartphone. Let’s find out the process below.

B) Tutorial To Install Custom Recovery In OnePlus One Smartphone:

1) To get started, download TWRP recovery, rename it as “recovery.img” and save the file in the “platform-tools” folder of “Android-SDK-windows” folder (Step 4 in prerequisites). Next, switch off your device and boot into the fastboot mode by pressing and holding the volume up and power button.

2) In fastboot mode, connect your smartphone to the computer. Next, open a command window in your computer and enter the following commands to flash the custom recovery:

cd Desktop/android-sdk-windows/platform-tools

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

3) Once the flashing process is over, enter the following command to reboot your device:

fastboot reboot

That’s it. Now you have successfully installed a custom recovery in your OnePlus One smartphone, and you can disconnect your smartphone from the computer.

To wind up, let’s find out how you can root your device.

C) Tutorial To Root OnePlus One Smartphone:

1) To get started, download SuperSU zip package and save it in the “platform-tools” folder of “Android-SDK-windows” folder (Step 4 in prerequisites).

2) Next, switch off your device and boot into the custom recovery mode by pressing and holding the volume down and power button. Now, in recovery mode connect your device the computer and enter the following commands, to transfer the SuperSU zip file to your device’s SD card:

cd Desktop/android-sdk-windows/platform-tools

adb push UPDATE-SuperSU-vX.XX.zip /sdcard/

(Replace X in SuperSU-vX.XX.zip with the downloaded version of SuperSU zip file in your computer).

3) Now in the custom recovery mode, select “Install Zip package” and point to the SuperSU file in your SD card. This will start the flashing process, and it will get completed within a minute. Once done, reboot your device normally.

That’s it. Now you have successfully finished rooting your OnePlus One smartphone. To confirm the rooting process, go to the Apps menu in your smartphone and look for the SuperSU app. If it is there (it will be there for sure), then the rooting is successful. Alternatively, you can use the root checker app from Google play store to confirm the root privileges of your device.

If you face any challenges while following this tutorial to root OnePlus One smartphone, let me know by dropping a comment below.